NFL Draft
1/21/25
6 min read
Savion Williams 2025 NFL Draft: Scouting Report For TCU Horned Frogs WR
Height: 6050 (unofficial)
Weight: 225lbs (unofficial)
Year: Fifth-Year Senior
Pro Comparison: Cordarrelle Patterson
Scouting Overview
TCU Horned Frogs wide receiver Savion Williams is a diverse weapon who boasts impressive physical abilities and a promising bundle of potential for his NFL franchise. Williams was unleashed as a diverse weapon for TCU this season. His powerful frame and explosive open-field speed created matchup challenges for defenses and offered the Horned Frogs the ability to be ambiguous with their personnel packaging.
That same role could be available to Williams in the NFL, but his implementation will be play-caller and scheme-specific. These super-diverse players are not one-size-fits-all, and some of the other elements of traditional wide receiver play will be works in progress for Williams at the NFL level. As such, he is a talent that will need development to stay on the field or else be relegated to a sub-package type player.
2025 NFL Combine Results
TBD
Positives
- Powerful frame offers straight-line explosiveness and contact balance with the ball in his hands
- Supreme versatility as a direct-snap backfield player, alignment at running back, and ability to split wide
- Impressive contested catch resume across entire body of work to win the catch point
Negatives
- Drop rate exceeds 10 percent for his career — some frustrating lapses of routine opportunities
- Refinement as a route runner requires work; played in a college spread system with plenty of soft coverage
- Does not illustrate desired run blocking contributions on the perimeter that his frame may suggest
Background
Williams was originally a quarterback at the high school level, playing for Marshall HS in Texas. A multi-sport athlete, he also competed in basketball and track & field. As a prospect, Williams was ranked as a 4-star recruit (247 Sports) who initially garnered interest and committed to the Arkansas Razorbacks before decommitting and enrolling at TCU with the Horned Frogs. He played in seven games as a true freshman during the non-eligibility 2020 season while serving as the team’s primary kickoff returner.
Williams played in seven games again in 2021 as a second-year freshman before breaking into the starting lineup during TCU’s run to the College Football Playoff National Championship game in 2022. He leveled up his play in 2023, leading the team in receiving yards despite playing in just 11 games, and was named Honorable Mention All-Big 12.
Williams ultimately bypassed the NFL Draft to return for his fifth and final season of eligibility in 2024 — setting career marks in receptions, receiving yards, touchdowns, and rushing yards as a dual-threat weapon.
Tale Of The Tape
Savion Williams is a natural talent and athlete who will be easy to justify betting on with an NFL Draft selection. The valuation of his skill becomes the complicated part — as some of his roles at TCU this past season are unlikely to produce similar results at the next level.
Williams has been afforded direct snap and backfield opportunities as a true athlete in an effort to maximize his touches. This, paired with a heavy load of perimeter screens and shallow crosses underneath in 2024, leaves Williams with a modest profile as an actual receiver.
You do see the ability to run routes on the vertical plane and graceful strides that allow Williams to stack defenders who try to run with him on go’s and deep posts down the middle of the field but many of these reps are afforded open air to run through the secondary.
When he isn’t charged with taking the vertical plane, he was most frequently charged with running quick perimeter screens, tagged routes into the flat from condensed splits, or shallow in-breakers underneath before being targeted and encouraged to make things happen with the football.
That is where Williams shines brightest. He boasts a powerful and overwhelming frame that will create headaches for secondary defenders to try to corral. Williams has enough field vision and lateral-cut ability to explode off a foot and break some pursuit angles to the perimeter. Williams sets up blocks well on the outside and brings the echoes of his play as a running back to his ability to create a lane outside the numbers with his schemed touches.
That said, his implementation this year was very schemed-touch specific with an average depth of target under 7 yards. His role in 2023 was much more in line with a height-weight-speed vertical threat (12.2 ADoT). Williams didn’t see a ton of press, and this will be an equally weighted variable to his NFL conversion, assuming he stays at wide receiver.
How well does he play with timing through contact? He shows some wiggle at the top of routes against soft catch coverage, but overall, his step and space efficiency at the top of the stem on hard-angled routes looms as a threat to his ability to consistently snap off and create separation against man coverage.
The good news? This is a fairly dominant player at the catch point. Williams has shined through contact and hauled in a disproportionate number of targets with defenders draped on his frame. His size and stature should make that a sustainable element of his game, extending to the pros. He’s long and does well to adjust his frame to the football based on ball placement.
Ironically enough, he has shined in these opportunities but struggled in 2024 with some frustrating concentration drops. His career drop rate exceeds 10 percent.
As a runner, Williams runs high but runs physically. He’s a fun player to watch with the ball in his hands where the instincts take over. But his value in the running game ends with the direct snaps and carries, which doesn’t bode well for a role as a full-time wide receiver.
His resume as a blocker is limited at best, and more often than not, he’s running dummy routes or tagged routes on the perimeter for RPO opportunities. There were only a handful of 1st & 10 runs all season in which Williams was charged with actually blocking with intent to the front side of a run and his leverage and grip strength appeared modest. He feels like a sleeping giant in this regard but the leap hasn’t happened yet.
Ideal Scheme Fit, Role
Williams projects best as a developmental wide receiver prospect. His comfort with the ball in his hands and raw athleticism deserves the opportunity to be showcased, but he will need route diversification and improvement in order to avoid being a schemed touch player at the pro level.
Williams should be developed with a focus on play on the perimeter to afford him the best opportunity to become a viable NFL starter at receiver. In the short term, he is a schemed-touch player with a hyper-focus on perimeter screens or work releasing from tight splits or from the backfield.
Grade: 74.50/100.00, Third Round Value
Big Board Rank: TBD
Position Rank: TBD
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